ANKARA, Turkey — Top officials from Turkey have met with
a high-profile British delegation to discuss ways to go forward with plans to
design, develop and build the TF-X, the Turkish indigenous fighter jet in the
making.
The British delegation, including International Trade
Secretary Liam Fox and Rolls-Royce CEO Warren East, met Jan. 13 with Turkish
Prime Minister Binali Yildirim, chief procurement officer Ismail Demir, Turkish
Aerospace Industries CEO Temel Kotil and other senior Turkish officials. TAI is
the prime local contractor of the TF-X program.
A statement from the Turkish prime minister’s office said
that during the meeting, “our content over cooperation and recent advancing of
our strategic partnership with the United Kingdom via joint programs was
expressed.”
An official in Yildirim’s office said the Turkish and
British teams agreed to produce the first prototype of the TF-X in 2023, the
centennial of the Turkish republic.
“Additional financing for the planned work in 2018 was
also discussed, but this topic requires further negotiations,” the official
said.
He said that a research and development road map was also
discussed during talks in Ankara.
In January 2017, Britain and Turkey signed a deal worth
more than £100 million (U.S. $137 million) to develop the Turkish fighter jet.
The deal involves TAI and BAE Systems.
A few months later, in May, Rolls-Royce partnered with
Turkish industrial group Kale with the aim of building engines for the TF-X.
Rolls-Royce’s Turkish venture came less than a year after the company, in
October 2016, offered a joint production partnership to Turkey with a view to
powering planned Turkish platforms and potential sales to third parties. The
British company’s proposal involved a production unit in Turkey to manufacture
engines for the TF-X, as well as for helicopters, tanks and missiles.
In October 2015, a memorandum of understanding had been
signed between Turkey and Rolls-Royce for technological know-how and a
production unit. Under the plan, Rolls-Royce will launch an advanced
manufacturing and technology center in Turkey ― the company’s eighth such unit
worldwide.
The Ankara meeting came at a time when Turkish officials
are preparing to select an engine for the TF-X. In addition to Rolls-Royce,
Tusas Engine Industries, TAI’s sister company and an engine specialist,
expressed interest in powering the TF-X.
Turkish officials say they rely on foreign technology in
order to build, in the longer term, an indigenous engine that will power the
TF-X.
They say the choice of engine was the most critical step
at this stage of the TF-X program. “All other design work will depend on the
engine to be selected,” one official said. “Once we have decided on the engine,
the rest of the program will automatically gain pace.”
The TF-X program is run by the country’s procurement
agency, the Undersecretariat for Defence Industries. But the decision on the
engine will be made by the ultimate panel that oversees top procurement
decisions ― the Defence Industry Executive Committee, which is chaired by
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Original post: defensenewscom
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